About ANEP economics e.V.

Academy for New European Political Economics e.V. Mission Statement

The 2008 global financial crisis painfully reminded us of what Keynes (and others) already had learned in the 1930s: despite being the dominant paradigm taught at universities world wide, neoclassical economics, having “no room for money” (Frank Hahn), fails to coherently conceptualize or predict financial crises and deflationary depressions. Like then, the search for a new and better (monetary) theory of capitalism has been intensified and entered public consciousness. Heterodox approaches are receiving renewed attention, but a coherent new integrative paradigm is still lacking. Such a paradigm will emerge. The Academy for New European Political economics will contribute to this process through independent conceptual work and active engagement in public and academic discourse.

From our perspective, three essential core elements for a new paradigm are emerging: (1) the historically specific legal institutional foundations of credit and the financial system in roman (private and public) law, i.e. property&contract law and taxation, and (2) monetary (nominal) economics based on business accounting, micro-macro integration by way of accounting identities and mechanics of balances (Wolfgang Stützel). In addition, (3) standard insights from comparative legal and economic anthropology and -history have to be added to be able to identify the conflicting relationship between modern formal legal institutions and traditional reciprocity, a field of tension within which neopatrimonialism, clientelism and informal practices reside: understanding this tension is directly relevant for development and transition economies, including some EU and even Eurozone countries.

Despite of its global dominance, western civilization and its political economy is a historicallyspecific form of social organization that can not be fully explained by any universalist theory. Through rediscovering and reevaluating the history of western civilization in context to global cross-cultural comparison, its developments up to the 21st century are to be newly described in the light of the developments since 2008. Thus, cross-cultural and historical comparison is integral to our efforts to re-evaluate the current situation, and to develop appropriate new political solutions and strategies.

Some interim results of our work can be found here. Some more information about who we are can be found here.